canal at Buffalo, and were there transferred to a schooner for St. Joseph. Thaddeus Smith, his wife and son Henry P. took the same schooner as far as Detroit, and from there took the Southern or Chicago road to White Pigeon, and thence to Prairie Ronde. Huston reached Prairie Ronde about the same time from Ann Arbor. There they learned that LaRue, instead of building a cabin on his claim as he had agreed, had re-sold his claim to a man named Bond, and run away; so there was no place to store the goods when they should arrive nor a place for the family to live. It was finally arranged that they should have the occupancy of one-half the little cabin of Abner Calhoon, on the west side of the Prairie for the winter and put up one of their own on the east side of the Island in the spring. Early in the spring this was done. A pretty large log building was erected just west of where my son Addison now lives, and the family and goods were removed to it. In May, James Smith again came from Vermont, accompanied by his brother Addison, who had some cash capital which he invested in the concern, and became a member of the firm of Smith, Huston & Co. and was to remain in charge of the business, while Huston was to go to Bronson, and build a store there--a branch of the business at the Big Island; James Smith going immediately to New York to purchase a stock of goods to supply both stores. This was the condition of things when I arrived at the Big Island store November 5, of that year as I have already related. And from that very day the terms Prairie Ronde and Big Island were dropped as signifying the place of business here, and the name Schoolcraft was used.